Hot Chocolate with Chilli Powder
by Luna4ever
Summary: Eponine never believed Grantaire when he said that her boyfriend was crazy. That was, until Combeferre showed up outside her apartment in a blizzard.


((A/N: Hi! This is my first Les Mis fanfic- everything belongs to Victor Hugo, of course. Thanks for reading!))

Eponine never really believed Grantaire when he said that Combeferre could be crazy. Her boyfriend, a medical student getting his PhD, was never known for his spontaneous nature. He was a sit-at-home-and-read-books type of guy, and Eponine liked that. She loved going over to his house and relaxing on his couch with a book. Combeferre usually just smiled, curled up next to her, and started reading her book, too. But crazy? Combeferre? Never.

At least, that was what she thought until he showed up outside her apartment in the middle of a blizzard. He had thrown snowballs at the window to get her attention. Eponine, who was rummaging her cabinets for food and praying that she would have enough food to get her through the next couple days, was extremely irritated when the snowballs hit her window. She stalked over to the window, extremely angry with the juvenile delinquent that thought it was funny to hit some apartment windows with snowballs-

Oh. Combeferre.

She didn't want to open the window, so she called him instead. She watched him attempt to answer the phone through heavily mittened hands. Finally, he managed to answer. "Hi," he said breathlessly. "Want to come outside?"

"No," Eponine laughed. "There's a blizzard warning out, 'Ferre. It's supposed to snow over twelve inches tonight."

"So it's perfect weather to have a snowball fight," Combeferre replied, grinning cheekily at her. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Damn it- just smudged them-" He attempted to take them off, but was having even more trouble with that than with answering his phone.

"Why don't you come inside?" Eponine suggested.

"Not before a snowball fight!" Combeferre exclaimed.

Eponine rolled her eyes. "Oh, _fine_," she huffed. "Give me five minutes."

"Yay!" Combeferre said before Eponine hung up.

She went to her closet, searching for her warmest clothes. Eventually she ended up with a cotton shirt, a woolly sweater, skinny jeans (why were all of her warm ones dirty? Ugh. These will have to do.) before she pulled on her snowpants and boots. She tied her long, dark hair back in a ponytail and put on gloves before she trudged outside.

Combeferre was waiting, grinning in the blizzard.

"I hope you're happy," Eponine sighed. "I can barely move in all this shit."

"I'm very happy," Combeferre assured her, tackling her to the ground. "Courf and R are here and they're _not_ beating us in a snowball fight," he whispered, his face inches from hers. Even though they had been dating for over two years, Eponine still felt her breath hitch slightly whenever 'Ferre's face was close to hers. She leaned up to give him a kiss.

"They don't stand a chance," she agreed. Somehow, she wasn't surprised that Courf and R had also agreed to come out with Ferre in this blizzard.

Eponine dragged her feet through what felt like six inches of snow before she and Combeferre reached what looked like a snow fort. Almost immediately, Eponine was hit by a huge snowball that was definitely too large to be legal.

"R!" she screeched, seeing scruff and a bit of dark curls underneath a stifling hat.

"You don't have a hat, Ep!" R said gleefully.

Combeferre winked at R before supplying Eponine with a hat. "Happy Christmas," he whispered, putting it on her head.

"Christmas isn't for another week," Eponine protested.

"Happy early Christmas," Combeferre corrected, kissing her temple.

Eponine, despite her reservations at Christmas presents, smiled and kissed Combeferre straight on the lips. She wasn't sure if she wanted to deal with all of this snowball fight stuff- really, she just wanted Ferre inside her house so she could-

Bam. Snowball, right in the face.

Eponine pulled away from Combeferre, the right side of her face sopping wet. And now it was trickling down her shirt and down- ohohoh that felt really horrid- "COURFEYRAC, YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!" Eponine shouted, gathering snow practically from midair - there was certainly enough swirling around for her to do so - and moulding it into a deadly snowball. She hurled it with as much speed as she could. To her satisfaction, it hit Courfeyrac straight in the chest.

"No fair!" Courfeyrac whined.

"You hit me in the face, you twat!" Eponine laughed, gathering up more snow. This time, she missed him. Well, she thought grimly, better luck next time.

The snowball fight lasted until it was dark outside. Courf and R finally gave up after Eponine started using Combeferre as a shield when Courf and R destroyed the barrier between the teams. "We're off," Courf announced. "It's time for Grantaire's bedtime."

"Also time for alcohol," R muttered. "Lots of it."

Combeferre and Eponine laughed, watching them go. "Let's go inside," Eponine suggested. "It's starting to get really cold out here."

"Agreed," Ferre said, his teeth chattering. "I'll make us some hot chocolate."

They stomped inside, mitten in glove, and were pretty much stripped by the time they were inside Eponine's apartment. Eponine immediately ran off to change into pyjamas and another softer sweater, as her regular clothes were wet from the snow. She resurfaced a few minutes later, much drier and much more comfortable, and walked into the kitchen to smell Combeferre's hot chocolate. He put a bit of chili powder in his hot chocolate, which was surprisingly tasty, and it also filled the kitchen with the best smell. Eponine tried to describe it multiple times, but all she could come up with was Combeferre. Her Combeferre.

He grinned at her, his clothes miraculously dry. "Just putting on whipped cream," he informed her. She smiled and went to curl up on the couch.

Combeferre came over, handing her a mug of hot chocolate. They both drank, revelling in the liquid's lovely warmth that seemed to warm their very fingertips. Combeferre put an arm around Eponine, and she snuggled into him. "Want to watch a movie?" she asked.

"Sure," Combeferre said. He got up. "I think we need a winter one, don't you?"

"Whatever you like," Eponine replied, smiling.

"With lots of snow," Ferre added.

"Haven't you made your decision?" Eponine teased.

"Er- yes, I have," 'Ferre said. He held up a copy of While You Were Sleeping.

"My favourite!" Eponine exclaimed.

"What else?" Combeferre said cheekily, putting the movie in.

Two hours later, the hot chocolate was long gone and Eponine was nearly asleep. She was in such a comfortable position- curled up next to Combeferre, letting his own warmth keep her warm. It made her wish that he would stay over more nights. As it was, he didn't stay- well, ever. But perhaps he was staying tonight. Just the thought of cuddling with Combeferre throughout the night made Eponine very content. What was she turning into? She was turning down the idea of sex in favour of cuddling? What had Combeferre done to her? She smiled as she snuggled closer. Whatever he had done, she liked it.

"Hey, Eponine?" Combeferre said quietly.

"Mm?" she murmured.

"Are you asleep?"

"Obviously not, I'm talking," Eponine said. Her voice was a little hoarse, but she made the effort to open her eyes.

"Er... Eponine, I need to ask you something."

"Go ahead," she sighed, looking into his eyes. They were so, so beautiful. Beautiful blue eyes. Her Combeferre.

Combeferre smiled and glanced nervously at the movie. It was Eponine's favourite scene: the moment when the man Sandra Bullock has loved all along, really, drops a ring to pay her for a subway ticket. But he didn't really want a ticket. He wanted her to marry him, of course.

"Eponine, I love you."

"That isn't a question," Eponine replied, smiling gently.

Combeferre laughed nervously and kissed her forehead. "I want there to be a lot more days like this," he stammered. He couldn't ever make speeches around her. It was, in Eponine's opinion, one of the cutest things he did.

"Me too," she agreed.

"I want my whole life to be like this- like- like this, with you," he continued. "And I- I love you, Eponine- I want- I want to spend the rest of my- of my life with you- I... Damnit all, I had a great speech planned and it's horrible now and you won't even want to say yes the way I've bungled this... Eponine, I'm sorry that I get nervous sometimes. But I love you and- and- will you marry me, Eponine?"

Eponine's eyes grew wide as she saw Combeferre pull out the little box with a ring that was most definitely- was that the ring she had said she had wanted a couple months ago?- yes, yes, that was the ring. But no. No, don't get caught up on that. She was scared of marriage, Combeferre knew that. She was scared of commitment, scared of being in a relationship where she wasn't being abused for fear that she wasn't doing her job, scared of everything about relationships. Her mouth was in a stupid little 'o' shape and she had to stop. She had to give Combeferre an answer.

Combeferre. The taste of hot chocolate still lingered on her tongue. And she thought about life without him. Life without Combeferre, who would try his hardest not to bother her when she was reading. Life without the medical student who told her about what he was studying until he saw that he was grossing her out. Life without her best friend. And for some reason, some really ridiculous reason, she couldn't imagine life without her Combeferre in it.

"Yes," she breathed. She began to grin. "Yes." She started to plant kisses all over Combeferre's face. "Yes!" She was laughing uncontrollably. "Oh, Combeferre, yes, I will marry you."

He started laughing, too. "I love you," he sighed, kissing her forehead, her nose, and then her lips.

They pulled away from each other. Eponine's arms hung loosely around Ferre's neck, and his arms were around her waist. They had long forgotten the movie.

"So, 'Ferre, as your fiancée, I can't let you go out in this storm," Eponine decided. She leaned her forehead against his. "You're staying here whether you want to or not."

Combeferre grinned. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere you aren't," he replied, kissing her again.

That night, Eponine felt warmer and more comfortable than she ever had before.


End file.
